Frozen food drawer for refrigerators



, Executor,

Attorne g.

2- SI-EETS--SHEE' l Inventor:

d. e s a e c e D n eu mo. 8 0 Rr 6 C R. E. PATTEN FROZEN FOOD DRAWER FORREFRIGERATORS l l m Oct. 7, 1952 Filed April 16. 1949 Oct. 7, 1952PATTEN 2,613,123

FROZEN FOOD DRAWER FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed April 16, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEETF/gi 7 F726. 5

am H! 1 32 L Rag attemDeceased, Carl L. De Dueixecutor;

non will became apparent as'the ren wing deranged in regiohs where thetfh'be partly brokr'i awiaiz, of a. person 6L 1101 embodyin thisifivntiafi; Fig

Patented Oct. 7, 1952 rationof NewYol-k hiiiiiiiiiitioh fibril 16, 19%,'5??? "This nventmn relates we iiigeratorcaoffiet and more particularlyto arrrigerater eabifiet ihciuding'a drawer rprrrezenr ed. k H I Forconvenience of access, it is sometimes Hesirahle to store froze: 'foo'din a 'u'ia'wer wh en may b'emoved min and "off a p'ar m 'whieh' i'sinaihta'ined'aboiit o F. Hewe er-,-' s\ih an arrangement inve thedifficulty that frost Accordingl 1 it *is object 5: this fiii'ijriitionto 'pfdvide drawer fer rre'znfeo'o incoming an arrangement forpositioning the-slidingsiiiraees so as tominimize {nest-i0 w o A Furtherobj ects and advantages of sdri'iation pra eeds "ar' idfthe res-wrest:meat which charaio 'ri'zethisinvehtionwillbepoifited an withparticiilarity the time 'ai'meked to ans raming-earmark ificatioh H I Intiarrying out thisinventioh the siidingstirfaces of a frozen foodstorage rawer are arabove the temperature maintained "iii the (ifreference may he had to the accohiiianf'yifig drewings in which Fig. 1is a frontelevatio'n elevation View tak'ehalon'g t-he li 'n '2-2 1; Fig.3 is an emerged sectioi'ial "View or a tion of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is; a"sewer-meet 't' en along theline's i=4 or 3; Fig. 5 is -"a f htelevation view, l ai'tly broke awayor a po tioh of a refrigeratorshowing a modified "form of this invention; Fig, 6 is a sectionalelevation view taken along the lines 66 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a sectionalplan View taken along the lines T 1 of Fig. 5; Fig. 8 is an enlargediew; partly broken away, showing a detail of the construction; and Fig.9 is a setional Viewtakerialohgflieline 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Referring now to Figs. 1' and 2, there is shown a refrigerator cabinet Iincluding an outermetal wall or case 2 and a plurality of spaced'innerwalls or liners 3 and]. Thefsiaace betwenthe outer wall and the linersfilled with a; suitable heateiri'si lating materials. The liners forms acom artment 3 f6! receivifiga sliding drawer I 6 for the storage offrozen foods. The liner 4 forms a, compartment 'l-for the storage offresh m e esees'sotema'g of the compartment T-is oiose'd 'by sober 8anathema-ass "openin or the compartment 3' is closed-by the frontwertieaipdrtion 9 of fliedr'airiri. A'gasket 10 is -15fot "-'ded'n'thebortion of the drawer for enga the :iaeen or "the cabinet, and alatch Y ended at each-s ne bf'the portion a of he orawer.The-1aterresi2are actuated by a handle l a mi each ensa s a'stiike oneor which is indicated "hy M. Ihe handle is also utilized 'iii gthe'cbndf-is'in t of the refrigerating sy tern. erdertorerngerate thecompartment 3' "1 1 e'th'e "contents fif'the drawer B an'evapoi6 the ram"or a ms-rainy of turns of se urea to the exterior of the liner 3.'Coridefisihg apparatus including a hermetically seared'irioter-eqmpressdrunit n and a condenser Io a's-houses withir'i theiriachinery eompart-- rh'e'nt 15. L

ref'rige'i'aht is suppl e from thendensih 1'1" tto --theeva15nraier l6through a cafiill'ji'y tu'h'e is, mi"vaporizedjrerri rant is- Withdrawnfrdr'n "tioh'liriefl. The errreshreed'm y'hereiri'gerat'ed many desiredmanneipeimer by separate apparatus or 'by an evaporator sunpliea itemthe same condensing one asis u'sedto refrigerate the frozen foodcomevaporator th'lbliig h a slicmii'ait'r'nfit I for the storagemomenta. I

In order to bro'perly preserve the frozen food the compartment 3 i'snorinally maintained at a temperature in th'e' neighborhood of zerodegrees F. .At 'such a teihperatureirost forms on the interi'or of theliner 3 and, should the drawer 'libe-supported forsliding motion onrails located within the-compartment 3'-, the frost would ultimatelyrender movement of the drawer exceedingly difficuit io'r impossible. Inorder to overcome this diffioulty -an arrangement has been proyidedwhereby the drawer is supported for slidingmovement on railspositionedWithin the ,rnachin'ery compartment l5, As shown in Fig.

2 :the drawer'fiis snpportedin spaced relationship. to the '1'iner 3 andhence a substantial amount of frost can form on the interior of the1iiier without interference with the movement of the drawer.

"Referrinanow also to Figs; 3 and 4, a plurality of fbraclfets 'il re;se'oii'rd, as by welding, to the bottonisfiffa oith oi'ite'r' wen of therefrigeratar iii the 'ifiiibr reio'nof the'machinery compartment I5. Twosuch brackets are located near each side of the refrigerator, one in theforward portion and the other in the rearward portion of the machinerycompartment. A rail or channel 22 is mounted on each pair of supportingbrackets 2| and extends from the front to the rear of the machinerycompartment. In order to mount the drawer for sliding movement along thechannels 22 the drawer is provided with two L-shaped members 23. Each ofthe members 23 is secured to a metal wall 24 of the front portion 9 ofthe drawer. The memhers 23 may be secured to the wall 24 in any suitablemanner, as by welding, at the points 25, 26, and 27. In order tofacilitate freeqmovement of the drawer each of the members .23 isprovided at the rear of its horizontalleg 28 with a roller 29. Theserollers are adapted to ride within the channels 22. A second roller-36is mounted on each of the channels 22 near the front edge thereof andthe lower surfaces of the members 23 are adapted to ride on the rollers36. The rear end of each of the channels 22 is inclined, as indicated at3|, to assist in moving the drawer to its closed position.

It can be seen that the surfaces where the relative motion. between thedrawer and its stationary supports takes place are located within themachinery compartment [5 where the temperature is well above freezing,and hence there is no tendency for frost to form on these surfaces andto hamper the operation of the drawer.

A modified form of this invention showing a different arrangement forslidably supporting the drawer is illustrated in Figs. 5 through 9. Theconstruction is, similar to that shown in Figs. 1

through 4, and correspondingparts have been designated by the samenumerals. In the form shown in Figs. 5 through 9 the drawer is mountedfor sliding movement along two rails or channels 22. These channelsextend horizontally from the front to the rear of the cabinet, one ofthe 24 of the portion 9 of the drawer in any suitable manner, as bywelding at the points indicated by 33 and 34 in Fig. 7. A roller 29 ismounted at therear end. of each arm 35 of the U-shaped member 32, andthese rollers are adapted to be received within the channels .22. Aroller 36' is mounted at the forward end of each of the channels 22 tofurther facilitate easy movement of the drawer to and from its closedposition. Each of the channels 22 is inclined at its rear end, asindicated by 3|, to assist in moving the drawer to its closed position.

Each sliding assembly including a channel 22', rollers 29' and 39', andan arm 35 of the member 32 is enclosed within aspace formed by aneniongated member 36 of U-shaped cross section. As shown most clearly inFig. 9 this member 36 includes flanged portions 31 and 38 which aresecured in any suitable manner, as by welding, to the interior of theouter wall 2 of the.

of the outer wall 2 of the refrigerator in any 4 suitable manner, as bywelding, along a line indicated by 40 in Fig. 7. If desired, the member36 may also be flanged adjacent the rear wall portion 39 to facilitatewelding it to the rear wall. The forward end of the member 36 issimilarly secured to a portion 4| of the outer wall of the refrigerator,as indicated by 42. The member 36 forms an enclosure for the variousparts of the sliding assembly and prevents the heat-insulating material5 from finding its way into the mechansim. Further, since this member issealed to the outer'wall 2 of the cabinet it minimizes the entrance intothe insulation of moisture which might otherwise pass through theopening provided in the front of the refrigerator for receiving thesliding member 32.

It can be seen that the compartment 43 formed by the elongated member 36is spaced from the liner 3 of the frozen food compartment and this spaceis filled with heat-insulating material 5. Furthermore, the coils whichmake up the evaporator It are arranged along the top, back and bottom ofthe exterior of the liner 3 and do not extend along the sides into thespace between the liner 3 and the compartment 43. Moreover, thiscompartment is immediately adjacent the outer wall of the refrigerator.Thus the temperature within the compartment 43 is normally above 32degrees F. and any tendency toward the formation of frost on therelatively movable portions of the mechanism arranged therein isminimized. The rails or channels 22 are secured directly to the outerwall of the refrigerator, and this further minimizes any tendency forfrost to form on the surfaces of the rails.

Whilespecific embodiments of this invention as applied to a frozen fooddrawer of a combination refrigerator have been shown and described, itis not desired that this invention be limited to'the particularconstructions shown and described, and it isintended, by the appendedclaim, to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of thisinvention.

What this invention claims as new and desires to secure by LettersPatent of the United States is: V I

A refrigerator cabinet including an outer case, a spaced inner wallformed to provide a compartment, means for refrigerating saidcompartment, a machinery compartment, a drawer adapted to move,horizontally within said first-named compartment in spaced relationshipthereto, horizontal supports mounted in said machinery com- Executor ofthe Estate of Ray E. Patten, Deceased.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 916,069 Wadsworth Mar. 23, 19092,487,259 Morrison Nov. 8, 1949 2,490,694 Leutheuser Dec. 6, 1949McMahon I Aug. 8, 1950

